Fight Over Worship at Schools Puts Bronx Church in Spotlight

The Bronx Household of Faith has held services in PS/MS 15 for the past nine years.

[Editor's note: This story appears in the latest issue of the Norwood News, which hits local streets today. Just a quick warning: this story is long and easily could have been longer. I'm planning a follow-up post to tackle some of the angles we couldn't fit into this original piece.]

By Alex Kratz

When the leaders of Bronx Household of Faith, an evangelical Christian congregation based in University Heights, first approached the city, in 1994, about using its public schools to hold worship services, they didn’t think much of it. They certainly did not think they would find themselves, 17 years later, fighting for freedom of religion and speech as part of a back-and-forth legal case that could end up in front of the Supreme Court.

“It’s taken on a life of its own,” said Bob Hall, Bronx Household of Faith’s head pastor.

Bronx Events: Conference for Parents of English Language Learners

The Department of Education is hosting a conference tomorrow aimed at the parents of English Language Learners students that will focus on preparing for college. "College and Career Readiness: The 21st Century Includes You," will run from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Fordham University's Keating Hall.

From the DOE: "Today's young people need to become 21st century thinkers, able to recognize and understand the challenges and opportunities they will encounter and the complex environment in which they will arise. Encourage the families of your students to attend this conference to learn what they can do to help prepare their children for post-secondary education and careers in the exciting but challenging world they will face."

Translation services and complimentary breakfast and lunch will be provided. For more info, call the DOE's Division of Students with Disabilities and ELLs at 212-374-6072.

For other Bronx events taking place this week, check out our community calendar, below.

Editor's note: What did we miss? Send details to bronxnewsnetwork[at]gmail.com.

Bronx Borough President Calls for Immediate Action on PCBs

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. sent a letter this week to Dennis Walcott, Bloomberg's deputy mayor for education and community development addressing the results of a recent test conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency on PS 68 in the northeast Bronx that showed high levels of PCB contamination.

In his letter, Borough President Diaz calls for immediate action to remedy the situation at PS 68 and an investigation of possible PCB contamination in all public schools within the next 18 months.

PCB or Polychlorinated Biphenyls is a tasteless, odorless, organic compound whose production was banned by the United States Congress in 1979. Some of the effects to exposure from PCB may include headaches, coughs, skin sores, irregular mentstrual cycles, fatigue and rashes. Some studies have even linked PCB to certain kinds of cancer.

“PCBs are a serious threat to the health of both our children and the teachers, custodians and other staff that go to work every day in our public schools. The City must protect the health of these individuals, children and adults alike, and begin the immediate testing of all school buildings that may be at risk of PCB contamination. We cannot tolerate any further delays, too much is at stake,” Diaz Jr. said in a statement.

Read the letter after the jump.

PS 86 Community to DOE: Don't Fix What Isn't Broken

Hundreds of PS 86 supporters came out to a Nov. 18 meeting to pretest proposals that would eliminate the school's 6th grade and change its zoning. (Photo by Alina Rodriguez)

[Ed. note: This article appears in the latest edition of the Norwood News, which is out on streets and online now. Pick up your copy today.]

By Alina Rodriguez

The entire PS 86 community — parents, faculty, students and alumni — came out in force recently to vehemently oppose two city proposals that would dramatically change the landscape of this overcrowded, but successful school.

Hundreds of PS 86 supporters gathered on Nov. 18 at a Community Education Council of District 10 meeting to demand the Department of Education stop proposals to eliminate the school’s 6th grade and re-zone it to reduce the number of families who could send their children there.

Longtime PS 86 Principal Sheldon Bernardo, who also attended the school in his youth, was upset with not only the proposals, but also how the DOE approached the school about its plans. He said the DOE talked to the school only after speaking with the education council, which must approve of any zoning changes.

“The conversation consisted of this is what we plan and if you don’t like it you can go to Brooklyn,” Bernardo said. “They came without Spanish speakers, knowing our community is 85 percent Hispanic. They cannot communicate with our community and it is insulting, ridiculous and unfair.”

Bronx Pols Split on Bloomberg's Choice for School Chancellor

This afternoon, an eight-member advisory panel appointed by State Education Commissioner David M. Steiner will meet to discuss the credentials of Cathleen Black, the veteran publishing executive who is hoping to become the city's next Schools chancellor.

The panel will then make a recommendation to Steiner as to whether or not he should grant Black a waiver. State law requires that chancellors hold certain qualifications, including a professional certificate in educational leadership. Black, who Mayor Bloomberg tapped to replace News Corp.-bound Joel Klein, has never before worked in education, and so her fate is in the commissioner's hands. 

The meeting comes just as opposition to Black's appointment appears to be growing. In a poll released today by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, the majority of respondents deemed her unfit to lead the school system.

Several Bronx politicans have also questioned Black's suitability. 

More Money Woes for the Mary Mitchell Center

The Mary Mitchell Center,
at 2007 Mapes Ave.
(Photo by James Fergusson)

Staff at the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center in Crotona are facing another financial hurdle this month, as the Health Department is demanding upgrades be made to the center's kitchen to comply with licensing laws.

The center serves hot, healthy meals each afternoon for students in its popular after-school program. Now, the city says they have until February to purchase and install a new stove, with a fire suppression system that meets Health Department requirements, to avoid losing their childcare license.

"It's a big expense," said executive director Heidi Hynes. "It's just not something that we can do."

The Department of Education, which owns the building and runs a GED program there, told Hynes that it would buy and install the stove, but at the cost of approximately $35,000.

The center is already struggling to pay the city another $30,000 to cover maintenance fees on the building, which had been waived for over a decade in an agreement with the DOE since the Mary Mitchell Center officially opened in 1997. This summer, however, the city announced that it could no longer afford the fees.

"Given the current fiscal reality, we are asking community organizations who have not been paying for these services to begin covering these costs," a DOE spokeswoman said last month.

Hynes says she has already had to cut the center's operating hours to afford the monthly maintenance payments. To buy the new stove, they will have to redirect more money from the budget that was originally intended for after-school programming. The center still needs to raise an additional $15,000 over the next month to pay the costs in full.

"Basically, we have between Thanksgiving and Christmas," to come up with the money, Hynes said.

Assemblywoman Gibson Criticizes Mayor's DOE Pick

Add Bronx Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson to the growing list of legislators criticizing Mayor Bloomberg's appointment of Cathleen Black as the city's new Schools Chancellor. 

In a letter to David M. Steiner, the commissioner of the New York State Education Department, Gibson said she "remain[s] troubled that Cathie Black would assume the role of Chancellor without neither substantial nor comprehensive educational or professional experience in teaching."

State law requires that school chiefs hold certain qualifications, including a professional certificate in educational leadership. But the law also allows the commissioner to make exceptions.  Joel Klein, the outgoing chancellor, was given a waiver when he was offered the job in 2002, and Gibson doesn't want a repeat.  Her letter, which was released to the press, is embedded below.

Gibson's Letter

Bronx High School Fair & Other Events This Week

The Department of Education is sponsoring five borough high school fairs this weekend to help 8th and 9th graders--and those ambitious 7th graders who want to get a head start--in selecting and applying to a high school. Finding the right school can be a daunting process for students and their families, so everyone is encouraged to attend.

Fairs are being held in each borough and will focus exclusively on schools within that borough. You can find out more about your Bronx options this upcoming Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Theodore Roosevelt Educational Campus at 500 E. Fordham Rd. 

For information on fairs in the other boroughs, or about the selection and application process, visit the DOE's website on high school admissions.  The DOE--and individual high schools--will be hosting more sessions in the coming months. Visit their website or keep checking our What's Going On? section for updates.

If you have any of your own questions relating to Bronx schools, or have recommendations for other parents about to start the high school selection process, feel free to share your thoughts in our new Readers' Forum, in the education section. 

See our calendar below for other events happening this week: 

Editor's note: What did we miss? Send details to bronxnewsnetwork[at]gmail.com.

The Mary Mitchell Center's Future is Uncertain; Staff Are Meeting With the DOE Today

More than 100 people, mostly parents and children, attended a rally last week in the center's playground (Photos: J. Fergusson)

For Laquanda Walker, the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center in Crotona has been a godsend. Her 8-year-old son, Isacc, is enrolled in its 'Enrichment Program,' giving him somewhere to be after school, and her peace of mind.

"This is the only safe place for him in the neighorhood," said Walker, a Parks Department employee. She added, "The food is wonderful, he does his homework, it's not just play, play, play. There are many opportunities for my son to grow here."

These opportunities could be cut short, however; the center and its many programs face an uncertain future.

In July, the city's Department of Education, which owns the building and provides maintenance, contacted staff, demanding that they now pay to use the space.

The Mary Mitchell Center

The DOE is requesting more than $70,000 a year, according to the center's executive director, Heidi Hynes. "We'd have to fire people that are working with children in order to pay this," she said.

Asked for comment, the DOE, which runs a GED program in the building, released a statement. It said: "There are real costs associated with the maintenance of any DOE building... Given the current fiscal reality, we are asking community organizations who have not been paying for these services to begin covering these costs."

The fees were waived during the summer months, after Councilman Joel Rivera and Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. reached out to the DOE. But on Sept. 21, with no payment forthcoming, the city locked Hynes, her staff, and the children they serve (some 300 a week) out of the center. (They were allowed back in two days later, when another temporary waiver was granted.)

Last Friday, Hynes organized a rally in the center's playground. The message to the DOE: it's our building, give it back.

Tomorrow: Rally to Save the Mary Mitchell Center

On Tuesday night, the city abruptly closed the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center in Crotona, following a disagreement over permit fees. Tomorrow, staff, local residents, and others will rally outside the building to protest the decision.

The Department of Education took over the building's lease in 2000. At the time, a deal was struck allowing the center to continue running its programs after school and on weekends, Mary Mitchell staff say. The DOE also agreed to maintain the building and waive the permit fees for the space.

Now, ten years later, the department's gone back on its word, says the center's Executive Director Heidi Hynes. When payment was requested - and not received - DOE custodians locked the center's staff out of the building.

Located on Mapes Avenue near East 178th Street, the Mary Mitchell Center serves hundreds of children each week. It also supports other local groups and organizations (including one of our newspapers, the Tremont Tribune, whose reporter has desk space there), and has long been a force for good in the neighborhood. The center has played a key role, for example, in raising awareness of, and drawing attention to, gun crime in the area. And it's been raising funds to build a new community center in a nearby park where a derelict building currently stands.

Check out the flier below for details of tomorrow's rally. We'll be there and will have more coverage next week. 

Rally Details

Bronx BP: Don't Renew Teaching Fellows Contract

On Monday, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. joined a group of teachers at a union rally and denounced the pending renewal of a $5 million city contract to fund NYC Teaching Fellows, a program that recruits and trains new teachers from other fields.

Diaz said the contract, which was up for a vote this week by the Panel For Education Policy, is illogical in the face of a bare-bones DOE budget.

If budget cuts go through, as many as 8,500 teachers could be laid off, including 20 percent of teachers in the South Bronx, according to schools chancellor Joel Klein.

"It’s the equivalent of the Yankees not paying to resign Derek Jeter, and putting out millions of dollars on a want ad for a new shortstop for the Yankees," Diaz said. "It makes absolutely no sense."

We're still waiting on word from the DOE on the status of the contract, which was up for a vote last night (check back for updates.) Diaz was urging that the vote be postponed; watch the video below for his whole statement, or click here to read a press release. 

Cabrera Rips the DOE Over High School's Relocation

Councilman Fernando Cabrera (right) and University Heights Secondary School students held a press conference on Monday (Photo: R. Thomas)

By REBECCA THOMAS

Councilman Fernando Cabrera had harsh words on Monday for the Department of Education, which continues to be unreceptive to his proposal to keep University Heights Secondary School in his district.

"The DOE has been duplicitous in their dealings with my office and our constituency,” said Cabrera in a statement released that morning. “They never intended to prevent the move of University Heights and falsely gave the impression that they were willing to negotiate with CUNY and the community in order to provide the best for the kids. It is time they be held accountable.”

The school is located on the Bronx Community College campus in University Heights, but will have to leave because BCC - a CUNY college - needs the space in time for the new school year.

On Monday afternoon, the councilman and 13 students from the school gathered at the corner of 179th Street and Jerome Avenue for a press conference. They stood outside a newly constructed four-story building that Cabrera described as “ideal” for the school but which the DOE has rejected in favor of the South Bronx High School campus in Morrisania.

Cabrera says he suggested the 179th Street site in January after the DOE had said that the lack of suitable buildings was the obstacle to keeping the school in the local area. The building is a five-minute walk from University Heights Secondary School's current site, but Cabrera's proposal was greeted with inaction.

“They asked me to find a building. I found a building, but now nothing!” he said at the press conference. “Don’t ask me to do something if you know at the end that there is no hope!”

Bronx News Roundup, April 12

A Bronx teen who was beaten outside of Jonathan Levin High School of Media and Communications back in September is suing the Dept. of Education and the city for $6 Million. The student claims security guards shut the door as he tried to escape a gang fight.

More cases related to tax fraud in the Bronx and Manhattan have came to light. The New York Times writes about a Bronx man who was denied his tax return from H&R Block due to identity theft.

A woman from the Bronx is being charged with stabbing her boyfriend in the chest in her Arthur Avenue apartment.

A van driven by a Bronx resident, Luis Vargas, crashed into a wall off Route 9W, killing a 22-year-old passenger and injuring 14 others in the van. Vargas is being charged with a DWI and is facing further action by the Orange County grand jury.

 Harold Maldonado Jr. is now the director of the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club. Maldonado has worked with the club since it started in 1969.

"Dozens" of family members and friends rode in a memorial bike ride for Bronx health activist Megan Charlop, who died in a bike accident on March 17, on Saturday afternoon. [Check here for more on the bike ride later.]

Hundreds of people, along with city officials, gathered last Friday for the grand opening ceremony of the new Macombs Dam Park and the Joe Yancy Track & Field near the new Yankee Stadium.

Check out New York Magazine's list of "The Most Livable Neighborhoods in New York." Some Bronx neighborhoods have made it on the list including Riverdale (38th), Co-op City (45th) and a few others.

Petro-Bronx, an organization funded by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, is giving grants to several south Bronx nonprofit groups.

Approved: University Heights Secondary School's Move to the South Bronx

On Tuesday night, the city's Panel for Educational Policy voted to approve University Heights Secondary School's move to the South Bronx High School campus.

The school is being forced to relinquish its current building at Bronx Community College at end the school year, because the college says it needs the extra classroom space.

According to Marge Feinberg, a Department of Education spokesperson, nine Panel board members voted in favor of the move, and two against (the representatives of the Manhattan and Brooklyn borough presidents). The Bronx BP's rep was absent because of a car accident, Feinberg said.

We've left messages with teachers at the school, seeking their reaction to the vote, and will update this post when we hear back.

Many in the school community are furious with BCC, and also with the DOE for not doing move to fight the move and for recommending the South Bronx High School campus as the new site. (On BronxTalk on Monday night, host Gary Axelbank interviewed a parent and a teacher from the school, both of whom slammed the relocation plans. You can watch it here. Next Monday at 9 p.m. officials from Bronx Community College will appear on the same show - tune into Bronxnet's Cablevision channel 67 or Verizon Fios channel 33.)

It's possible - in theory - that BCC could reverse its decision, or that the DOE could find a different space more in tune with the school's wishes. (Local developer Frank DeLeonardis wants the city to consider his four-story building on Jerome Avenue at East 179th Street, which is just six or seven blocks from BCC.)

But the Panel for Educational Policy's "yes" vote makes this less lightly. "It doesn't look good for them [the school]" said Xavier Rodriguez, Community Board 5's district manager, at last night's community board meeting.

D-Day for University Heights Secondary School

University Heights Secondary School is currently located in this building on BCC's campus.  (File photo by R. Thomas)

In December, Bronx Community College asked University Heights Secondary School to vacate the building it occupies on the college’s campus by the end of the school year.

The Department of Education has since proposed moving the school to Morrisania, where it would take over a section of South Bronx High School.

Tonight, at a meeting in Staten Island, the city's Panel for Educational Policy will vote on whether to approve the relocation.

DOE Proposes New Home For High School

In December, Bronx Community College divulged its intention to evict University Heights Secondary School from its campus at the end of this school year, so that the college can better accommodate a growing student body.

The decision maddened parents, teachers, and students at the school, as well as local politicians, who have been speaking out against BCC.

The Department of Education, meanwhile, has been busy hunting for a new site for the school, and on Tuesday announced they'd found one: the South Bronx High School Campus, at 701 St. Ann's Ave. (near East 156th Street).

Blogging in the Huffington Post, Alan Stringer, a Hofstra University professor and a friend of a University Heights teacher, criticized the DOE's proposal and said it would "kill" the school. He added:

My prediction is that if this plan goes through, students who would have selected UHHS will choose to go elsewhere and four years from now we will find it on the failing schools list and targeted for reorganization.

The proposal (published below) will be discussed at a public hearing on March 11, at the South Bronx High School Campus. The final decision rests with the city’s Panel for Educational Policy.

DOE Proposal for UHSS

Bronx News Roundup, Dec. 8

The Mount Hope Community Center's opening is delayed due to a problem the size of three-eighths of an inch. The city claims that the building extends less than an inch on their property and thus refuses to issue the center its permanent certificate of occupancy. Read about some previous delays in opening that we published in the Mount Hope Monitor.

The Daily news highlights some of northern Riverdale's best finds.

A Daily News columnist, provides a glimpse into the crusade of a Bronx woman's tireless anti-gun crusade.

Another Daily News columnist hints that many Bronx politicians have hopes of assuming leadership positions on City Council.

The Department of City Planning has proposed the rezoning of an L-shaped area in the Tremont and Bathgate neighborhoods running along Third Ave. to spur growth in the area.

A developer has big plans for an area in East Tremont, including the construction of an 18-story building and a possible bowling alley.

A Bronx homeowner continues to be slapped with littering tickets for unsightly messes in her front yard that she blames on trash being blown from a nearby bus stop.

The Daily New's latest coverage of the Armory's living wage stand-off reports that the mayor's office offered a compromise. Stay tuned for our posting on the developing story later today.

Two Bronx schools have been added to the Department of Education's closure list.

Police have survellience video of the gunman in an attempted robbery shooting on Grant Avenue in Concourse Village.

Police continue to investiage the shooting a of a Bronx mother who was killed yesterday outside her home in front of her two daughters.

PS 204 Teachers, Parents: Let Us Have New Building

Last night, close to 200 people attended a raucous public meeting on the future of PS/IS 338, a new school building going up at 1740 Macombs Road in Morris Heights, which is scheduled to open next September.

Perhaps 90 percent of those present were teachers, parents, and students from PS 204, a nearby elementary school. Their current building, a former synagogue on West 174th Street, lacks many of the amenities some schools take for granted. There's no gym or playground, for example; children play on the stretch of cordoned-off street. There are also plumbing problems, and the building itself has seen better days. Recently, a sink in one of the bathrooms fell off the wall, shattering on the floor.

"We find this [our current situation] unacceptable, we hope you find this unacceptable," Bill Geelan, a teacher at the school, told the panel, which included Department of Education staffers and elected officials.

"We are here tonight to say please consider us for the new building," he said.

Geelan's words were echoed by dozens of other teachers, parents, and students, all of whom took their turn at the mic. If some audience members had different ideas for the building, they didn't say so: PS 204 stole the show.

Community Education Council 9, along with the relevant elected officials, will now offer their recommendation to the DOE. After that, a public hearing will be held. Then the DOE will have the final say.

But while nothing was decided last night, the meeting, held at Community School 232, next door to the PS/IS 338 construction site, did clear up a few things - not least that PS 204's school community is mobilized and determined.

We also learned a little more about the new building, including:

• It will accommodate one 642-seat school, which includes a 60-seat District 75 (special education) program.
• It has been built to house a K-5 school, a 6-8 one, or a K-8 one - in other words, an elementary school, a middle school, or something in between.
• It won't necessarily be a brand new school. "We can open a new school [public or charter] or we can move an existing school into the new building," said Tania Shinkawa, from the DOE's Office of Portfolio Development.
• If an existing school takes over the building, the space left behind would still be used as a school.

As the meeting drew to a close, Aurelia Greene, the deputy borough president, told the large crowd she was proud of them for speaking up and getting their message across.

Vanessa Gibson, the assemblywoman for the area, went further, saying she supported PS 204's demands. "My recommendation is that PS 204 is moved into the new building," she said.

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 23

Gov. David Paterson wants the New York State Senate to vote on a same-sex marriage bill within the next few weeks during a special session of the legislature to address New York’s budget. Sen. Ruben Diaz has vowed to do whatever it takes to prevent the bill to legalize same-sex marriage from becoming law or getting to the floor of the Senate this year.

We've written about Diaz's opposition before, as well as the attitude of Assemblyman Michael Benjamin.

The man suspected of shooting Sadie Mitchell has been charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He pleaded not guilty in Bronx Criminal Court this morning.

A Bronx father is suing NYC Transit after his son was stabbed on a city bus. He says the bus driver did not call for help and abandoned his bleeding son on the street.

English teacher Greg Van Voorhis at the Bronx School of Law and Finance is being investigated by the New York City Department of Education after allegations that he gave students lewd stories to read.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) is adding a pilot Bronx Express program for service between Woodlawn and 149th Street-Grand Concourse. The pilot will begin on Oct. 26. and end on Dec. 11. Express trains will operate every 20 minutes between 7 a.m. and 8:20 a.m.

Bronx resident Rosa N. Rivera pleaded guilty today to aiding and assisting in the presentation of a false individual income tax return for clients and to filing a false individual income tax return.

Good Day for Dinowitz

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz is being honored tonight at Manhattan College for his work in passing legislation to combat human trafficking. The Norwood News wrote an editorial about Dinowitz's role in 2007.

Also, according to the Daily News, Dinowitz will soon be introducing legislation that would put Community Education Councils under the jurisdiction of borough presidents rather than the Department of Education and the Bloomberg administration (the story is not on-line yet but we'll post it when it is). The idea is to give the Councils more independence from the DOE so they can better hold the school system accountable.